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Report: Nicolas Batum to undergo CT scan to find source of 'excruciating' migraine headaches
Charlotte Hornets forward Nicolas Batum will undergo a CT scan on Wednesday in the hopes of determining the cause of his recent stretch of migraine headaches. The 28-year old missed the last Hornets contest, a home loss to Chicago on Monday.
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The source said the migraines were described as “excruciating” and that it’s “a scary period” for Batum, a nine-year veteran.
Batum has no past history with migraines.
With a return date as yet unspecified, the Hornets will struggle to fill Batum’s role in spite of a preponderance of Nicolas Batum-types.
The similarly sized Marvin Williams (having yet another wonderfully unreported-on and fantastic season) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will continue to start, as they did in Charlotte’s rather large, healthy and typical lineup featuring Batum. Marco Belinelli will see an increase in minutes off the bench, improving Charlotte’s spacing as Batum too often relies on the midrange jumper. Dedicated shooting guard Jeremy Lamb will step in as starter as he has during Batum’s four other steps out of the lineup. Those absences resulted in but one win, against the Knicks.
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The native of France averages 15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists for Charlotte, currently on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. The Hornets are looking inward in an attempt to make up for their poor 2016 postseason showing, one that saw Batum struggle toward 37.8 shooting from the floor in Charlotte’s seven-game first round defeat to Miami.
That Heat team featured current Chicago Bull Dwyane Wade, who missed part of a game earlier this year due to a migraine, the latest in a career that has been marked by injury and recurring migraine headaches. Wade detailed his struggles in a 2011 interview with the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy:
“I have fear for it, not just in the mornings, but all during the day. I have fear of it a lot of times,” he said. “It’s something that consumes the mind. It’s something that’s unfortunate.”
[…]
“You just enjoy the days you don’t have them. I’m able to just enjoy these days and hope I don’t have an episode anytime soon,” Wade said. “It’s not a pleasant thing at all.”
[…]
“There’s nobody really else in my family that I can talk about it because they don’t deal with it,” he said.
Perhaps Wade, who was once playfully mocked by then-teammate LeBron James for his migraine-shielding eyewear, might end up reaching out to Batum regardless of the outcome of the CT results.
Wade later credited improved diet and his “dungeon”-like lighting in his house for improvements, something both Scottie Pippen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (two famous NBA migraine sufferers) also acknowledged that a better nutritional regiment is key in recovery and prevention.
We hope, with Nic Batum, that it comes down to something as simple.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
